Web Design Trends 2016: Here’s a List of the Top 8

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Web Design Trends 2016

Web design trends 2016

Web design is constantly evolving. Better technology, higher bandwidth and more sophisticated programming languages, such as the latest JavaScript APIs, are making it easier for designers to experiment without sacrificing the user’s experience.

Hero Images

High-resolution hero images, or oversized headers on the homepage, are the top web design trends 2016 has seen so far.

The design takes advantage of the fact that people are image oriented creatures, and with recent advances in image compression, larger headers don’t increase the website’s load speed.

This trend is ideal for brands that want to invoke an emotional reaction in visitors or brands that have one strong, clear message.

The Hamburger Menu

The three layers of lines have replaced traditional full-text menus on many websites, especially those featuring hero images.

The clean, minimalist look goes against traditional design principles since if forces users to perform an extra action. Hamburger menus also hide menu items that the visitor may not expect to find on the website.

Love it or hate it, the hamburger menu is one of the hot new web design trends 2016 has seen emerge.

Branding Through Website Design

Instead of templates with colors typically used by certain industries, more brands are demanding that their website designers incorporate the brand’s identity in the site’s design. This includes using custom typographic elements and immersive storytelling.

Candid photos of employees or the business owner also help personalize faceless companies.

Material Design Lite

Framework-agnostic Material Design Lite (MDL), available in vanilla CSS, HTML and JS, lets designers incorporate the simplicity of a pure flat design with light and shadows for depth. Also called Flat 2.0, MDL lets designers use gradients and textures. Flat designs are encouraging the use of more artistic fonts and vivid colors as well.

Also called Flat 2.0, MDL lets designers use gradients and textures. Flat designs are encouraging the use of more artistic fonts and vivid colors as well.

Full-Screen Forms

Now that responsive web design is the norm, many businesses are hoping to increase conversions with full-screen signup forms. When a visitor clicks to signup for a newsletter, a full-screen overlay appears, instead of the user being taken to another page on the site.

The Death Of Stock Photos

Web design now incorporates real photos, even if the people in them are not exceptionally good looking and perfectly dressed. Consumers prefer to see photos of real people using a company’s products; they tend to gloss over stock images without really seeing them.

More Videos

More web designers are using HD quality videos to tell a brand’s story in 2016. Millennials consume a staggering amount of video content; they expect a company to have an assembly or how-to information in video format on their website.

Vintage Designs

Like fashion styles, website designs come back in vogue as well. Expect to see more rainbow elements and galactic backgrounds as people start feeling nostalgic about the decade of hideous web design.

While web designers may cringe at a customer’s request for a pixilated background, these designs are coming back.

Conclusion

As browsers adapt to the latest web design tools and the end users’ hardware continues to improve, a web designer’s creativity will be limited only by his or her imagination.

What do you think about this article on web design trends 2016?

Is there anything you would like to add?

Let us know in the comments below. 🙂

About the Author

This article was written by the team at 360 Online Marketing, located in Boulder, CO. They specialize in SEO copywriting, web design and PPC advertising and have many years experience, collectively. So if you’re stuck or in a rut, reach out and give these professionals a try. You won’t be disappointed.